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Merrill survey highlights return to risk
October 19, 2010--Fund managers are flocking into risky assets as confidence rises ahead of an expected second round of quantitative easing from the Federal Reserve, according to a new survey.
The Bank of America-Merill Lynch Fund Manager Survey questions 194 fund managers, with portfolios totalling $492bn in assets, and is seen as a barometer of sentiment in the financial markets. October saw the level of risk jump by the largest margin since April 2009.
Recalibrated portfolios are showing a strong move into equities, particularly in emerging markets, as confidence in Chinese growth rises. A net 19 per cent of managers expect China’s economy to strengthen over the next year, up from a net 11 per cent in September.
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Source: FT.com
Concurring Statement Relating to the Commission’s Proposal on Position Reports for Physical Commodity Swaps and Swaptions
Commissioner Jill E. Sommers
October 19, 2010-- support this proposal to receive daily position reports for physical commodity swaps and swaptions because I believe it furthers our continued effort to expand transparency into swap markets and because I believe it is critical that the Commission receive this information as soon as possible. I recognize that this proposal is a precursor to the Commission moving forward with a proposal on the imposition of position limits. That said, my vote in support of this proposal today should not in any way be interpreted as expressing support for moving forward with the imposition of position limits by the deadlines set forth in Dodd-Frank.
In July and August 2009, the Commission held three public hearings to discuss imposition of position limits in energy markets. Five months later, in January 2010, the Commission issued a proposed rule imposing position limits in four enumerated energy contracts. I had grave concerns about moving forward with position limits on those four contracts, and accordingly voted against the proposal. My grave concerns about moving forward with position limits have not been eased, and in fact, have only been heighted by certain provisions of Dodd-Frank.
Section 737 of Dodd-Frank states that the Commission shall by rule, regulation, or order establish limits on the amount of positions, as appropriate, that may be held by any person. This section requires the limits to be aggregated across markets and related products and to be imposed within 180 days for energy and metals contracts, and 270 days for agricultural contracts.
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Source: CFTC.gov
Opening Statement, Second Series Of Proposed Rulemakings Under The Dodd-Frank Act
Commissioner Scott O’Malia
October 19, 2010--Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank the teams who have spent many long hours developing the rules we will consider here today. The staff has actively sought input from the Commissioners and worked cooperatively to make improvements to each of these rulemakings.
I would like to commend Don Heitman and his team in developing a thoughtful and well constructed rule making on agricultural swaps. The rulemaking is balanced and the questions are straightforward.
I would also like to extend my thanks to Carl Kennedy and his team for their work on the Fair Credit Reform Act and consumer protections provided for under Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. Protecting sensitive and personal information is always of paramount importance.
With regard to the Large Trader Reporting proposal, I continue to have concerns with the reporting methodology being developed by the Commission. I do appreciate all the hard work and research Bruce Fekrat and his team have undertaken in drafting this rulemaking.
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Source: CFTC.gov
Wisdom Tree files with the SEC
October 19, 2010-Wisdom Tree has filed a post effective amendment, registration statement with the SEC for 3 actively managed ETFs.
The Asia Bond Fund
Latin America Bond Fund
EMEA Bond Fund.
view filing
Source: SEC.gov
Dow Jones Indexes Launches LATixx Peru Government Nuevos Soles Bond and Global Peru Government USD Bond Indexes
October 18, 2010-- Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider, LVA Indices (LVA), the leading fixed income index and pricing provider in Chile, and Proveedor Integral de Precios (PIP), a leading index and pricing provider in Latin America, today announced the launch of the Dow Jones LATixx Peru Government Nuevos Soles Bond and the Dow Jones LATixx Global Peru Government USD Bond Indexes. These indexes are designed to measure the performance of the Peruvian Government's local and global issues in Nuevos Soles and US Dollars.
The Dow Jones LATixx Indexes are designed to serve as basis for investment products such as exchange-traded funds, structured products, futures and options.
"These indexes provide investors with an opportunity to measure the bond market in the emerging nation of Peru," said Michael A. Petronella, president, Dow Jones Indexes. "This is the first index in the LATixx family of indexes which measures Peru, specifically. We expect to expand this family of indexes to cover all of the major Latin American markets," noted Petronella.
"These indexes will help to develop more sophisticated products in the local market as well as contribute to promoting the Peruvian market abroad, which in the last years has also been performing very well," said Manuel A. González, director of international administration, CEO, LVA Indices, Proveedor Integral de Precios.
"We believe these indexes will prove to be a significant contribution for local investment managers by providing them with an adequate benchmark to measure and analyze the performance of their portfolios," said Gregorio Gonzalez,
The Dow Jones LATixx Peru Government Nuevos Soles Bond and the Dow Jones LATixx Global Peru Government USD Bond Indexes are market-cap weighted. Weights are rebalanced monthly. The Dow Jones LATixx Peru Government Nuevos Soles Bond Index is calculated in Nuevos Soles and the Dow Jones LATixx Global Peru Government USD Bond Index is calculated in U.S. dollars.
Back-tested historical data is available back to January 1, 2009, with the base date of December 31, 2008 and an initial value set to 1000.0.
As of September 30, 2010, the Dow Jones LATixx Peru Government Nuevos Soles Bond Index had a year-to-date performance of 3.49%.
As of September 30, 2010, the Dow Jones LATixx Global Peru Government USD Bond Index had a year-to-date performance of 16.62%.
For more information on the Dow Jones LATixx Indexes, please visit www.djindexes.com.
1The Dow Jones LATixx Peru Government Nuevos Soles Bond Index and the Dow Jones LATixx Global Peru Government USD Bond Index were first published on October 18, 2010. All estimated daily historical closing prices prior to that date are based on back-testing (i.e., calculations of how the index might have performed in the past if it had existed). Back-tested performance information is purely hypothetical and is solely for informational purposes. Back-tested performance does not represent actual performance, and past performance is not indicative of future results.
Source: Dow Jones Indexes
Indxis Appoints Alan Price As Sales Director - Indxis Offers The Most Efficient Route-To-Market For Quality Structured Investment Products
October 18, 2010--Indxis, the leading independent provider of index technology and investment products, has appointed Alan Price as sales director. Alan will be responsible for product and service development at Indxis, the indexing subsidiary of US-based Mergent, a provider of business and financial data on global publically-listed companies.
In his role, Alan will drive development of the firm’s index calculation and distribution platform which has been used by some of the world’s leading indices for over 10 years. Its platform offers real-time, vendor and data neutral calculation and distribution in Europe’s increasingly fragmented marketplace.
Indxis works with investment companies to create and license investment products such as its Dividend Achievers funds which currently hold over $6 billion in assets under management and are offered by major investment firms including BlackRock, Invesco PowerShares and Vanguard.
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Source: Indxis
NYSE Breaks Trades of S&P 500 ETF Showing 9.6% Plunge
October 18. 2010--A software update at NYSE Euronext’s Arca platform triggered what appeared to be a 9.6 percent plunge in an exchange-traded fund that tracks the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, a drop that would have erased $7.9 billion from one of the most popular securities in the U.S.
Data published by the electronic venue at 4:15 p.m. New York time showed the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust at $106.46 compared with its opening price of $117.74. The apparent plunge in price involved 7.2 million shares in the closing auction on NYSE Arca, according to data compiled by Bloomberg at 4:30 p.m. The S&P 500 rose 0.7 percent to close at 1,184.71 today.
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Source: Bloomberg
SEC Proposes Rules on "Say on Pay" and Proxy Vote Reporting
October 18, 2010--The Securities and Exchange Commission today proposed rules that would enable shareholders to cast advisory votes on executive compensation and "golden parachute" arrangements. The rules are called for by Section 951 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
Under the proposed rules, public companies subject to the federal proxy rules would be required to:
provide their shareholders with an advisory vote on executive compensation and an advisory vote on the desired frequency of these votes;
provide shareholders with an advisory vote on compensation arrangements and understandings in connection with merger transactions, known as "golden parachute" arrangements; and
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Source: SEC.gov
Wave of closures set to hit US coal stations
October 18, 2010--Closures of US coal-fired power plants are set to accelerate sharply during the coming decade as a wave of environmental regulations hits the industry, analysts and executives believe.
Ageing plants are threatened by the cost of investment needed to cut pollution, as well as by competition from cheap gas supplies created by the boom in US production from previously uneconomic shale rocks.
Moves by the US government’s Environmental Protection Agency to regulate emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases thought to contribute to global warming, supposed to start next January, would hit coal the hardest.
CFTC Launches Online Form for Submitting Comments
Any Federal Register Release that is open for comment will have a “Submit Comment” button next to the open and closing dates of the comment period. Click the “Submit Comment” button.
Enter the required information into the form and enter your comment or provide your comment as an attachment
Comments and any attachments will be published, without removal of any personally identifying or other sensitive information
Disclaimer:
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Source: FT.com
October 18, 2010-The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has improved the process for submitting public comments for Federal Register Releases and Industry Filings. The new online comment submission form will allow the public to submit their comments directly via the website. Comments submitted via the online form will be processed and published on the CFTC’s website.
To use the Online Form:
Find the Proposed Rule or Industry submission on which you want to comment in the list of All Open Comment Deadlines.
Source: CFTC.gov
